This episode of Sharp China is outside the paywall. Show Notes: On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the news that the US and PRC are sending representatives to Switzerland to discuss trade talks this weekend. Topics include: Why expectations should be set low, the week of signs that the PRC was willing to engage, questions about cooperating on fentanyl, and the latest measures to loosen monetary policy in Beijing. From there: An email about Chinese data spawns a conversation about increasing data opacity, and challenges for Westerners and the party alike. At the end: Thoughts on the PRC’s relationship to Russia as Xi Jinping heads to Moscow, the consequences (or lack thereof) for the PRC’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, and reactions to a pair of CIA videos recruiting disaffected party members. You can listen to the podcast in the Substack app: Or click here for instructions to add the podcast to your preferred player. Subscribe to Sinocism here . Subscribe to the Stratechery bundle here . Related Readings: US-China trade talks; Xi arrives in Russia; Xi's history lesson; Rate cuts and moderately more supportive policies -- Sinocism Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson Answers Reporters’ Questions on China–U.S. High-Level Economic and Trade Talk -- Sinocism US-China Trade Talks to Start This Week as Tariffs Start to Bite -- Bloomberg US Treasury's Bessent says China 'negotiations' to start Saturday without Navarro -- Reuters As China Looks for Way Out of U.S. Trade Deadlock, Fentanyl Could Be Key -- N.Y. Times How Bad Is China’s Economy? The Data Needed to Answer Is Vanishing -- WSJ Xi Jinping’s Moscow visit highlights China’s strategic vulnerabilities -- Brookings Full text of Xi's signed article in Russian media -- State Council Exclusive — Rubio Details How Trump Going on Offense Against China’s Belt and Road Initiative: ‘Big Story of 21st Century U.S.-China Relations’ -- Breibart CIA looks to recruit new Chinese spies with social media videos -- Financial Times To add the Sharp China feed to your preferred podcast player: Click on the "listen on" button and you will see a dropdown with several options. Make sure you are logged into your account when you do it so you get the correct private RSS feed for subscribers. If you have not logged in for a while you can enter your email and then we will send you a login link. The “email link” in the pulldown shown above will send you an email that also makes it easy to set it up in your preferred podcast app on your phone. If you use the Substack app it has a built- in podcast player. Thanks for listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sinocism.com/subscribe
